Australia’s inefficient, ageing, polluting coal plants will inevitably close. It is simply too expensive to keep them going once they reach around 50 years old. This provides a critical opportunity to move to a modern, 21st century electricity system. In doing so, Australia will tackle multiple policy objectives: affordable electricity for consumers; a secure and reliable electricity system; safeguarding our electricity system from worsening extreme weather; and tackling climate change by reducing Australia’s pollution.

With rapidly falling costs of renewable energy and storage technologies, polluting coal and gas power are no longer necessary to provide affordable, reliable power on-demand.

Major economies like California, Germany, and Spain are actively transitioning to more flexible, modern grids powered by renewable energy with storage technologies, plus demand management and an interconnected grid.